One year is not enough, but if you live it right it adds to an amazing journey called Life!
Ever wondered why we wish people on the transition of time? A new year, a birthday or an anniversary. Does it signify a year well lived or survived? Or is it time to clean the canvas and start the next one afresh? And then there are the other celebrations; reaching milestones, winning awards, finishing marathons that are not transitions but achievements.
Life without a purpose and Jan 1st without a goal or resolution sounds meaningless right? And then at the same time, there are groups of people who feel, why do u have to make a big thing out of new year’s, birthdays or anniversaries! Why bother making resolutions and goals that we either way are going to falter on. Instead why don’t we just be present?
Which school of thought is the right one? Well, unpopular opinion but Both are!
As we enter 2023, humanity will make the best of the crisis that’s probably looming. One might think that climate change, another round of pandemic, recession and unstable neighboring nations at war as looming crisis. I though feel one of the major ones will be Cultural Wars; the divide of ideologies is now taking center stage in news, debates, and all aspects of life.
Vegan vs Carnivorous, Ice bath vs Hot springs, Feminism vs Chauvinism; there are many cultural wars brewing or rather simmering beneath. Both schools throwing challenges and impacting the way we live. So, then what do we do? The ideal situation: Choose your school of thought without being judgmental on others and live in a Zen state, choose any and thrive. But if you can’t and want to parade your thoughts on social media and evangelize it as the right way to live, then as a caution for viewers of such content, adopt a state of Balance. Easier said than done I say!
We all have our confirmation biases towards our art, so we will keep finding new evidences to support what we believe. Me for example, am biased towards movement and anything that makes you move more, I choose to be quite evangelical about it. As a listener, you have to understand what works for you and your situation and your own biases. That is your superpower to tide over cultural wars.
The balance that we need achieve comes from a very important word : Enough.
What is enough for us? This Christmas, I was thinking about the year that went by and quite obviously multiple emotions engulfed me. If I were to box these thoughts into clear compartments to make sense of it all, I gather it would be as follows:
That was Enough – Happy & content
Just Enough – Need a little more
It Isn’t Enough – Barely made it
Enough of it – Time to change it
Most of our emotional states are connected to how we interpret ‘Enough’. Our fitness resolutions are connected to ‘Had Enough of it’, let’s get in shape this year, hence the surge in gym memberships. Our Mindfulness goals being with a sense of gratitude that says, That was Enough, let’s be thankful for it!
In Psychology, there is a concept called Object Cause of Desire, (nopes, isn’t as complicated as it sounds). It talks about a person’s lack of desire to have something fulfilled, because whenever that desire is fulfilled, the person turns to another object of desire. Root cause of Addiction!
The constant feeling of something that’s missing in life is actually good to motivates us to move forward to another goal. An example; for runners, it begins with the first 1km, then 2km, 5km and then 10km, 21km and then finally being a marathoner! Then the Ultra- Marathons & Ironmans beckon.
There should always be something missing in life.
May be then one way to look at a new year is instead of saying ‘Enough is Enough’ or ‘That wasn’t Enough’ or ‘That’s Enough’, leave room for attaining that desire by saying Just Enough it was, I need more.
As I write this, another wave of COVID is looming. The emotion shared by most of my friends around is, we have had enough! We don’t care anymore. Whilst we must learn to live with the virus and life will go on with the masks and occasional fevers. Caution just enough to take the required care and lot of life to move this year without being stuck in our homes and lockdowns is needed.
As a purist in thinking, I am absolutely on board with the concept of letting AI into our lives if it makes our lives better. But we need to leave a little room for exploring if AI does make lives better before disregarding it. Here is what the latest in AI Chat GPT has to say about Enough-ness
“Enough-ness is a term that can refer to the feeling or belief that one has enough of something, or that one’s needs or desires are satisfied. It can also refer to the belief that one’s current circumstances or situation are sufficient or satisfactory"
But guess what, if we feel it is Enough, then there won’t be someone who will invent a revolutionary concept like Chat GPT. Sense of Enough-ness or Enough is Enough both are extremes like Left and Right ideologies. We need to find that Balance, the space of ‘Just Enough’!
There may be more cultural wars around the theory of virus, the foods we consume etc. Every new social media post giving us a new one. Point is let these ideologies/schools of thought be Just Enough for you to maneuver various gyaans (including this one) to find your own flow of lifetime.
In 2023, Just be Enough and desire for more. Live with more balance and add more, because Variety actually beats addiction!